IIHF News - Japanhttp://www.iihf.com/
IIHF News from www.iifh.comenIIHF News - Japanhttp://www.iihf.com/typo3conf/ext/tt_news/ext_icon.gifhttp://www.iihf.com/
1816IIHF News from www.iifh.comTYPO3 - get.content.righthttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssThu, 08 Dec 2016 15:06:00 +0100Get ready for Belfasthttp://wmib2017.iihf.com/
Website launched, tickets as of FridayThe World Championship (Division 1B) will be hosted by Ice Hockey UK for the first time in 25 years when the international ice hockey tournament takes place at The SSE Arena, Belfast from Sunday 23rd April to Saturday 29th April 2017.

Tickets will go on sale Friday 18th November at 10am and fans are able to buy through various outlets - online through Ticketmaster, from the Arena Box Office in person or by calling 028 9073 9074.

GB are the host nation and will be joined by Japan, Netherlands, Lithuania, Croatia and Estonia for a festival of ice hockey in Belfast.

The ticketing details for the 2017 World Championship Division 1B are below and group prices are also available by calling Susan on 028 9046 0044.

Seats will reserved for members of the Great Britain Supporters Club (GBSC), who should contact the supporters club to arrange exclusive bookings (www.gbsc.co.uk).

World Championship Pass

The ’World Championship Pass’ gives fans access to all 15 of the 2017 World Championship games from Sunday 23rd April until Saturday 29th April at The SSE Arena, Belfast.

World Championship Pass - on or before 31st December 2016 (15 games( Adult - £60 Concession (Over-65s & students - with a valid ID) - £45 Children (Aged 16 & under - with a valid ID) - £30 Family (2 adults + 2 children - with a valid ID) - £150

The referees were assigned for most of the tournaments between now and next spring. An exception is the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Germany and France where 35 referees and 40 linesmen made the long list. The final assignments for this event will be done in February taking into consideration the performance of the on-ice officials in international and national play.

Click here to see all assignments.]]>on topIIHF01 Austria02 Belarus03 Canada04 Czech Republic05 Denmark06 Finland08 Germany09 ItalyFri, 07 Oct 2016 14:45:00 +0200Two days until #WGIHWhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=11119
Over 450 events in 42 countries this weekendDo you want to join an event? Or is your event not registered yet? Then it’s time to have a look at our list of events. Events take place in many of the major hockey countries but not just there. Interested in trying the sport in Abu Dhabi, Auckland, Athens, Kaunas, Kyiv, Seoul or Taipei to name just a few of the venues? This is your chance to do it!

And the best: You’re a part of a global movement with girls and ladies in dozens of countries trying out the coolest sport. On IIHF.com, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram you can check out what’s happening all weekend long as well as by looking for (and using) the official hashtag #WGIHW on social media.

We’re looking forward to having you with us, on the ice or by following us on our digital platforms.]]>on topIIHF01 Austria03 Canada04 Czech Republic05 Denmark06 Finland07 France08 Germany10 JapanThu, 06 Oct 2016 19:21:00 +0200The numbers behindhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=11089
1.7 million registered players worldwideCanada remains the country with the most players. 639,500 players are registered in ice hockey’s motherland, followed by 543,239 players in the United States.

Behind the co-hosts of the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship follow two countries not everybody would have in mind since their men’s national teams play in the third tier. Japan completes the top-10 with 18,988 registered players followed by Great Britain (12,462) and Slovakia (12,380).

Looking at the success of Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, it may be interesting to check out the numbers of the area they represent. In total 176,616 players are registered in European countries outside of the big four – the Czech Republic, Russia, Finland and Sweden. And 108,014 players are registered in the eight European countries represented by the players in Team Europe.

That number would lift the “Team Europe area” toward the top position of the European countries and explains why these eight countries together produce enough world-class players to form a team good enough to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup leaving the Czech Republic and the United States behind in their preliminary-round group.

Comparing the numbers with the population, hockey is most popular among, of course, Canadians. Every 55th Canadian is a registered hockey player. In Finland it’s every 74th, in the Czech Republic every 98th, in Sweden every 162nd and in Latvia every 297th. Four smaller countries not competing at the top level make the top-16 in this statistic: Iceland is ranked eighth with every 586th inhabitant being a hockey player, but there are only a bit over 330,000 people living on the island in the North Atlantic and the 566 hockey players have to share three ice rinks. Estonia is 11th (908 people per one hockey player), Luxembourg 15th (1429) and Andorra 16th (1646). Also making the top-10 are Switzerland (6th, 302), Slovakia (7th, 440), the United States (9th, 592) and Norway (10th, 786).

Women’s hockey is among the winners of the survey. There are four per cent more female hockey players than one year ago and the number is growing almost everywhere. The absolute numbers, however, diverge more than in men’s hockey. Canada (87,500) and the United States (73,076) are again leader while the rest of the world together has less than half of their numbers. Finland (5,950), Sweden (5,014), the Czech Republic (2,714), Japan (2,586), Germany (2,416), France (2,206), Russia (1,964) and Switzerland (1,230) complete the top-10.

Not only the size of the hockey communities in the countries are a reason but also different rates of female participation. In Canada 13.7 per cent of the players are female and in the United States 13.5%. In most top hockey countries in Northern and Western Europe, the numbers are between five and ten per cent while in Eastern Europe the numbers tend to be lower such as 1.9 per cent in Russia or 1.5 per cent in Latvia.

The numbers tend to be higher in Asia. 13.6 per cent of Japanese ice hockey players are female. In China, host of the 2022 Olympics, it’s even 26.7 per cent and in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 39.7 per cent. Also Kuwait (33.8%), Turkey (30.1%) and Argentina (25.9%) rank high.

Find here the full Survey of Players or visit the various country profiles on IIHF.com.

Most of the events will happen in the World Championship program played in five categories at various levels. The game schedules for most of the tournaments are now available online.

During the 2016/2017 the entire Women’s Olympic Qualification for PyeongChang 2018 will be played starting in less than two weeks with the first round in Mexico City and ending with the final tournaments in Switzerland and Japan. Two qualifiers will join the top-5 countries and host Korea.

The European club competition Continental Cup enters its 20th-anniversary season. The four-stage competition begins already next week with the group in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

Click on the links above for an overview of the events and to access the schedules.]]>on topOlympicsWorldsMenWomenU20U18Women U18Club01 AustriaMon, 19 Sep 2016 19:05:00 +0200Third-place finish for Austriahttp://groupe.pyeongchang2018.iihf.hockey/en/games/2016-09-04/jpn-vs-aut/#recap
Gr. E: Power play leads to 3-0 win vs. JapanThe Austrians outshot Japan in each period, 40-24 in total, but didn’t have an easy game against the Asians, who came here as the last-seeded team after advancing to the Final Olympic Qualification from the Preliminary Round.

The power play made the difference. Austria had two power plays and capitalized on both while the Japanese were not able to make use of four Austrian penalties including 39 seconds of 5-on-3 play early in the game.

“We’re disappointed. We had our chances but we were not able to put the puck into the net,” said Japanese forward Takuma Kawai.

With 97 seconds left in the first period during a power play the Austrians eventually opened the scoring after some good pass play. Michael Grabner hit the back of the net after a drop feed from Raphael Herburger.

The game remained open and the second period scoreless but at 7:27 of the third period the Austrians capitalized on the next power play thanks to a shot to the top-left corner taken from behind the right face-off dot by Andreas Kristler.

With 87 seconds left the Austrians also scored a goal five-on-five with a semi-wraparound from Thomas Raffl for the final score of 3-0.

“Today we finally implemented what we planned before. We played compact on defence and scored the goals,” said Raffl, the team captain and elder brother of his teammate and NHL forward Michael.

Finishing third was of course not what the Austrians planned especially after winning the Final Olympic Qualification for Sochi 2014.

“We knew we would play against top nations but our roster was not well balanced. The teams who beat us deserved to win against us, they were simply better.”

After a tough Olympic Qualification for both teams the players will now return to their club teams. At the end of the season Austria will compete in the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A in Kyiv, Ukraine, while Japan will play one tier below after having been relegated, at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B in Belfast.

MARTIN MERK]]>on rightOlympics01 Austria10 JapanSun, 04 Sep 2016 21:44:00 +0200Latvia rewardedhttp://groupe.pyeongchang2018.iihf.hockey/en/news/latvia-rewarded/
OQ Gr. D: Japan battled hard in 3-1 win for hostsAfter an easy 8-1 win against Austria, many Latvian fans at Arena Riga probably expected an easy win against Japan, which suffered a 5-0 loss to Germany the day before. They and the Latvian team had to realize quickly that this game would be no cakewalk in the first official game between the two teams since a Latvian 8-2 victory at the 2001 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

“They’re a good hockey team. They play hard. They play man-on-man, which is a little different. They’re really disciplined on ice,” Latvian captain Kaspars Daugavins said while being more critical about his team’s performance.

“We made a lot of childish mistakes and gave them so many opportunities to actually beat us today. We should be ashamed how we played today but we know we can play way better.”

The first period ended scoreless with chances on both sides as Latvia outshot Japan 9-6. The Asians defended their net better and tried to use their speed to score a possible upset.

In the second period the home team came out stronger, shot more often but the Japanese created the better chances especially midway through the period including a Yuki Miuri breakaway and Daisuke Obara given leeway to score but shooting wide the net.

“Obviously playing a team of Latvia’s stature is not easy for Japan but everybody saw a team that stayed together. I’m proud of the guys and we learned at this tournament,” Japan head coach Greg Thomson said.

With 5:04 left in the middle frame the Latvians were cheering but Martins Karsums moved the puck in with his blade in motion and the game continued scoreless. However, not for long. 58 seconds later the spell was broken. After a post shot the puck was sliding between the goal line and Japanese netminder Yutaka Fukufuji. Andris Dzerins reacted the fastest and shot the puck over the line.

At 6:16 during Latvia’s first power play of the period Karsums eventually scored his goal of the night. After a long shot Fukufuji blocked the puck that ended up loose between Ryo Hashimoto’s skates. Again the Latvians reacted the fastest and Karsums made it 2-0 to give his team more confidence after two tough periods.

The Japanese still didn’t give up and came close in the last minutes of the game. After a drop pass from Seiji Takahashi it was Shuhei Kuji, who skated through the zone and beat Latvian goalie Elvis Merzlikins for the first Japanese goal of the tournament with 2:14 left in regulation time.

The Japanese pulled the goalie looking for the second goal but the Latvians defended their lead, Dzerins scored into the empty net and his team can now get ready for the winner-takes-it-all game with Germany on Sunday.

“The main game will be in two days. We better think how we need to start playing. We have to improve everywhere. I don’t think anybody should be happy about this game tonight,” Daugavins said about the Sunday showdown.

MARTIN MERK]]>on leftOlympics10 Japan12 Latviaon rightFri, 02 Sep 2016 22:01:00 +0200Live from the Olympic Qualifiershttp://groupd.pyeongchang2018.iihf.com/en/news/live-from-the-olympic-qualifiers/
New online channel bringing the games liveAll games from the Final Olympic Qualification tournaments can be watched live on the Channel and the IIHF’s tournament websites from Minsk, Riga and Oslo.

The Final Olympic Qualification coverage comes as a result of a landmark agreement that was reached between the IIHF and the IOC to collaborate on content for the Olympic Channel.

“A high level competition such as the Final Olympic Qualification tournament is the perfect opportunity to debut our new cooperation between the IIHF and the Olympic Channel,” said IIHF President René Fasel. “Thanks to this amazing new platform the three tournaments in Minsk, Oslo, and Riga are being delivered to a global audience.”

“The IIHF is very happy about this opportunity to work closely together with the Olympic Channel, which is another milestone in our New Media strategy to promote our sport on new channels using modern ways of communication,” said IIHF Marketing Director Christian Hofstetter.

The creation of the Olympic Channel was one of the key recommendations of Olympic Agenda 2020, aiming to provide a new way to engage young people and core fans in the Olympic Movement, while also promoting the Olympic values on a consistent basis.

“The Olympic Channel will mark a major shift in how the Olympic Movement connects with young people all year round,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “The International Federations have embraced the Olympic Channel and we look forward to working with them on the exciting programming and promotional opportunities. The newly formed Olympic Channel team is making steady progress, with the emphasis on ensuring the product is right and the quality of the programming matches our ambition.”

The Olympic Channel was officially launched to a global audience via a mobile app for Android and iOS devices and at olympicchannel.com, following the closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio.

The Channel will broadcast live sports events, news and athlete stories, as well as historical Olympic footage and official films from the IOC’s archives. There will also be a focus on educational and youth-oriented programming, sustainability, sports science and nutrition, and promoting a healthy and active lifestyle.

IIHF.com caught up with Marketing Director Christian Hofstetter and Mark Parkman, General Manager of the Olympic Channel, to discuss the vision behind the Olympic Channel cooperation.

What was the IOC’s vision for integrating ice hockey into the Olympic channel coverage?

MP: We, the Olympic Channel and IIHF, have a common goal to increase both the size of the audience for the sport and active participation in the sport, especially amongst the younger generations. This includes creating and distributing as widely as possible ice hockey-related content that is appealing to such an audience.

CH: There are a lot of great stories to be told when you think of all the players participating in these tournaments. The Olympics is the pinnacle of international ice hockey competition, and this is a great way to bring those stories to the world.

Is there a clearly defined plan for ice hockey coverage leading up to PyeongChang 2018?

MP: We plan on covering all of the sports competing in PyeongChang and look forward to promoting ice hockey through our coverage which will include original features, news, highlights and events leading up to the 2018 Winter Games.

CH: On the IIHF side the goal is to develop a stronger relationship as we get closer to the Games, and also to show the women’s qualification tournaments starting later this year, all the way through to the final qualification tournaments in 2017.

What kind of manpower are we talking about that is onsite now in Riga, Minsk, and Oslo?

MP: We have dedicated teams at each venue comprised of camera crews shooting content around the event including behind the scenes coverage, interviews and features in addition to on-site social media coverage.

CH: The Olympic Channel was introduced to the IIHF during the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia, and since then there has been a lot of discussions and site visits between the Olympic Channel, the IIHF, the Local Organizing Committees of the three tournaments, and the host broadcasters to make this project work.

How do you see this cooperation developing in the future?

MP: We want to do as much with ice hockey as we can to help promote the sport. We look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership in which we collaborate on content and initiatives in order to bring additional exposure to ice hockey all year long and outside of the Olympic Games themselves.

Will fans be able to access footage from past Olympic ice hockey games?

MP: Footage from past Olympic ice hockey games will be used within original programming, features and news stories on the Olympic Channel. For full replays, fans can already watch select matches from previous Olympics Games on our YouTube Channel.

With the increasing movement towards digital coverage of sporting events, where can this benefit ice hockey?

CH: With the increasing trend towards mobile and digital platforms, the arrival of the Olympic channel fills in a gap in our digital media coverage, where in the past we weren’t able to devote the same resources to covering these qualification tournaments as we would of the Ice Hockey World Championship. I think the Channel as it develops can give us a good blueprint as we build our own digital media projects for our regular tournaments.

MP: As a digital first and socially engaging platform, the Olympic Channel provides a destination for fans to follow their favorite sports as well as discover new ones within a dynamic environment to encourage interaction, including with ice hockey, on a regular basis. For example, the Olympic Channel includes an option to register for a richer and more personalised experience, where users can follow their favourite athletes, teams, sports and countries to receive an individually-tailored content selection.

Is there any early usage statistics of the Olympic channel? Are there certain countries (particularly non ice-hockey nations) that are watching?

Since the launch of the Olympic Channel, public response has been positive overall; the app has a 4.7 rating on Google Play and 4+ in the App Store. In addition, our social media handles have amassed a community of more than 1.861 fans across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and have driven more than 10M video views in just a month.

Beyond game coverage are there possibly any plans to include alternative programming like ice hockey tutorials?

On the Olympic Channel, ice hockey fans are encouraged to check out the ice hockey sport page for complementary programming in addition to events. The page features content on past Olympic Games as well as a feature on the evolution of ice hockey and a photo gallery and we intend to add more content that includes tips from athletes. It can be found by clicking on the “sport” button at the top of the page and selecting “ice hockey”, or by clicking here: https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/sports/ice-hockey/

The live stream is available both on the Olympic Channel and on the IIHF’s official tournament channel pages from Minsk, Riga and Oslo.]]>Olympics01 Austria02 Belarus05 Denmark07 France08 Germany09 Italy10 Japan11 Kazakhstan12 LatviaFri, 02 Sep 2016 19:54:00 +0200German goal festhttp://groupe.pyeongchang2018.iihf.com/en/games/2016-09-01/ger-vs-jpn/#recap
OQ Gr. E: Japan no problem in opening gameThe Japanese are not the favourite here but didn’t come to Riga to be a pushover. In the first game against Germany that was easier said than done though in a clash between two countries that are separated by 11 places in the World Ranking. Having seven NHL players on the German roster didn’t make it easier for the Asians either.

“They have a lot of skill, it was very hard,” said Yuki Miura, “but we didn’t give up.”

The Germans needed less than four minutes to open the scoring. Brooks Macek capitalized in front of the net after a diagonal pass to the crease from Leon Draisaitl at 3:26.

With 2:38 left in the period and Takeshi Saito in the penalty box, Patrick Hager sent a shot from the face-off circle after a drop pass from Tobias Rieder. Florian Schutz screened Japanese goalie Yutaka Fukufuji and deflected the puck but didn’t interfere the goalie in the crease as the video review showed. It was one of two goals for him.

“It’s never easy to win a game despite them probably not playing at the same level like us in European leagues. But they can play too and made it difficult at the beginning. After the first goals it became easier for us,” Schutz said.

Germany scored three of the five goals on power plays and outshot Japan 51-13. Early in the middle frame Tobias Rieder added another marker after a horizontal pass from Leon Draisaitl to make it 3-0 for the black-and-yellow team. With the next power play Tom Kuhnhackl increased it to a four-goal lead. Schutz followed suit on a rebound during the next man advantage for the Germans forcing Japan head coach Greg Thomson to use his time-out. For the last period he replaced Fukufuji with Takuto Onoda in the net.

For the Germans the high-score game was a good opportunity to gel together with the new players on the team.

“Most of the NHL players were already with us at the World Championship except for two who are new but we know each other and it’s great for German hockey they can play here with us,” Schutz said. “It’s noticeable that they’re playing at the highest level.”

The Germans will continue tomorrow against Austria and on Sunday against host Latvia. Last time in the Olympic Qualification Austria succeeded against Germany to qualify for Sochi 2014.

“The score [against Japan] has no meaning for the next games. Austria is at par with us, we didn’t succeed against them last time. It will be the two most important games of the year for us. We feel great and have self-confidence,” said Schutz.